Toying with a "darkness" technique

i just banged this image out and i am kinda thrilled about it... what do you guys think?

I have been seeing this KIND of method a lot in glam/fashion tography lately.. and i ma rather pleased with how closely i have emulated it here.

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ooh... and one more...

i am really liking these results!

help me out, do they rule? do they suck?

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It is cool!

Just a thought: it may be an even more cool picture if you can show her eyes at normal brightness.

i would like to see what you mean, but avoided that entirely as i felt that full impact eyes may have been TOO much...

That's an interesting look. It makes me think of charcoal or pastel on board, like old-time galmor ads. Playing with the highlights (even if that's not what you're going for here) would make it even more catching. IMHO.

- Dean

That's awesome. Mind sharing how you get these results?

I would also like to know your "secret" for these results.

great low key lighting, Very nice and subtle.

I would love to share:

1 - start with the normally and properly exposed RAW file
2 - when opening it in ACR bring the exposure down really REALLY low
3 - counteract that by bringing up the brightness and contrast
4 - open the file as a tif
5 - now adress the blemishes using Mizunos Technique.
6 - now give it the old fashion USM (i use about 150% and a radius of 1.6)
7 - and close it off with the High Pass "sharpening" technique outlined at the end of Mizunos Technique

I meant brighten up the eyes so that you see the white areas of the eyes. I do not know how much impact they will have, but you can create a layer so that you can adjust their brightness to what you like.

i know exactly HOW to do it, but i disagree that it would help... feel free to give it a go and prove me wrong though...

Thanks for sharing a detailed idea of how to work out this idea. I'll have to give it a go sometime! TX again!

I like the first one, but I think you need to take a look at her right cheek (just left/below the nose for the viewer). Looks like you cloned a bit too sloppy there. It looks like a bruise now... On the second one, the focus is not where I'ld want it, and you also lost some detail cloning.

yeah i saw that bruise too... but i let it slide... i was just so thrilled about the overall result that i just said "to heck with it!"

the DOF is not ideal on the second one, i agree...

where exactly do you see the lost detail on the second one?

I think the "lost" detail is jpeg compression..just appears a bit blocky on the right

I think the second pic (looking down) is a little too dark for my taste, but the first one I like - a lot. very nice technique. I like the vignetting and the way the picture gradates out at the bottom. the sort of "graying" of colors adds deep moods to the picture. very nice.